Border wire assembly for spring seat and back assemblies



Sept. 5, 1961 R. D. STROUT El'AL BORDER WIRE ASSEMBLY FOR SPRING SEAT AND BACK ASSEMBLIES Filed Jan. 5, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS RAYMOND D. STROUT LYNN W. STAPLES ATTORNEYS Sept. 5, 1961 R. D. STROUT ETAL 2,998,971

BORDER WIRE ASSEMBLY FOR SPRING SEAT AND BACK ASSEMBLIES Filed Jan. 5, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 NIB INVENTORS S f RAYMOND D. STROUT LYNN w. STAPLES & BY

FIG. 4

ATTORNEYS 2,998,971 BORDER WIRE ASSEMBLY FOR SPRING SEAT AND BACK ASSEMBLIES Raymond D. Strout, 5807 Baker, and Lynn W. Staples, 1630 Brockway, both of Saginaw, Mich. Filed Jan. 5, 1959, Ser. No. 785,047 11 Claims, (Cl. 267-107) This invention relates to spring support constructions and more particularly to border wire members for spring seat and back assemblies or cushions.

The border wire assembly of a spring seat or back construction serves as a frame to which padding and upholstery may be attached and also functions to maintain the springs constituting a cushion in their proper places. Moreover, and border Wire operates as a force distributor to regulate to some extent the deflection of the springs under load by transmitting the force applied to one or more springs along the length thereof and to adjacent springs, thereby preventing undue deflection of a single spring element and providing a more comfortable cushion. Border wires in use heretofore have not been capable of performing all of these functions themselves, but have had to be supplemented by brace wires, filler wires, and the li is. These wires usually are rather short in length and are of peculiar configuration, thereby causing inconvenience in their storage and handling. More important, however, the use of wires auxiliary to the border wire of a spring cushion requires an undue expenditure of time, material and labor in the fabricaton of a cushion and adds materially to its cost of production.

An object of this invention is to provide a border wire assembly having all the advantages of conventional constructions, but none of their disadvantages.

Another object of the invention is to provide a border wire construction which inherently has greater strength than the border wires in use heretofore, thereby enabling the border wire to perform its functions better and longer.

A further object of the invention is to provide a border wire construction which lends itself to assembly with the springs of a cushion in a rapid and facile manner and without requiring any welding.

Another object of the invention is to provide a border wire construction which is adapted for connection to the springs of a cushion in such manner as to prevent undesirable distortion of the springs under load.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be pointed out specifically or will become apparent from the following description when it is considered in conjunction with the appended claims and the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary, top plan view of a spring cushion assembly equipped with a border wire formed in accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary, side elevational view of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a partial, top plan view of a portion of the border wire; and

FIGURE 4 is a partial, top plan view of another part of the border wire.

Apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention is intended primarily for use with spring seat and back constructions of the kind utilizing springs generally referred to as zig-zag or sinuous type. In the illustrative embodiment of the invention, a spring seat is indicated generally by the reference character 1 and may be composed of a group of spring elements 2 arranged side by side. Each of the spring elements 2 preferably comprises a number of torsion bars 3 of either varying .or equal lengths connected to one another by spacer bars Patented Sept. 5, 1961 ice 4 so as to form a supporting deck on which padding and upholstery (not shown) may be secured. At the forward end of each wire spring 2 is a front fishmouth section 5 which is joined at its upper end to a loop portion 6 at the end of the deck section and which is equipped at its lower end with a mounting leg 7 adapted to be received in a clip 8 or the like secured to a supporting frame 9. The rear end of each spring element 2 is similarly provided with a loop portion 6a to which a fishmouth section 10 is joined, the section 10 having its lower end terminating in a mounting leg 11 adapted for reception in a clip 12 that is anchored to the frame 9.

The apparatus described thus far constitutes a portion of a spring seat construction. Hence, the fishmouth sections 5 and 10 and torsion bars 3 are designed to provide a seat cushion having the desired configuration. It will be understood, however, that the border wire construction yet to be described is not limited solely to use in conjunction with seat cushions, but is equally adaptable to back cushions. For the sake of brevity, however, only the application of the border wire construction to a seat cushion will be disclosed in detail.

A border wire formed in accordance with the invention is represented by the reference character 14 and comprises a pair of generally U-shaped frame elements 15 and 16. The frame 15 comprises a central or web portion 17 which preferably is of such length as to span the lateral dimension of the group of spring elements 2 and extend slightly beyond each side of the latter. If desired, the portion 17 may include laterally and forwardly projecting sections 17a to form well defined corners for the cushion. At each end of the web section 17 is an integral leg section 18, the legs 18 extending rearwardly from the web 17 along generally converging lines. For a substantial portion of its length, each leg section 18 is straight, but at a point intermediate its ends it is bent to form a sharply converging portion 19, an attaching portion 20, and a converging end portion 21 which terminates in a mounting portion 22. The portions 20 and 22 are generally parallel to one another and to the torsion bars 3 and the end loops 6a, respectively, of the spring elements 2, and the overall length of the leg portions 15 is such that they span the fore and aft dimension of the spring supporting deck.

The frame 16 comprises a web section 24 also of such length as to span the lateral dimension of the group of spring elements 2 and to which is joined a pair of leg sections 25 that diverge for a substantial portion of their length. Each of the leg sections 16 is bent intermediate its ends to form a sharply converging portion 26, an attaching portion 27 and a converging end portion 28 which terminates in a mounting portion 29. The leg sections 16 also have an overall length such that they span the fore and aft dimension of the supporting deck of the springs 2. The portions 27 and 29 also are generally parallel to one another and to the torsion bars 3 and the end loops 6, respectively, of the spring elements 2.

The construction and arrangement of the frame parts 15 and 16 are such that they may be assembled to form a closed loop with a portion of the adjacent leg sections 13 and 25 overlying one another and with the mounting portions 22 and 29 lying adjacent to the web portions 24 and 17, respectively. The frame elements 15 and 16 may be secured in loop-forming position by means of clips 31 spaced along the contiguous leg portions 18 and 25 and by similar clips 32 clamping the end portions 22 and 29 to the respective web portions. If desired, a bolster Wire 33 spanning the distance between the leg portions of the frame members 15 and 16 may be provided and be secured to the latter by the clips 31.

When the border wire is in its loop-forming position, it may be laid atop the group of springs 2. The web portions 17 and 24 will lie along the front and rear edges, respectively, of the spring elements 2 and the leg portions 18 and 25 will lie outside the lateral edges of the spring elements 2 as is best shown in FIGURE 1. At this time, the web portions 17 and 24 may be secured to the front and rear ends of the spring deck by means of clips 34. To guard against slippage of the parts, the border wire frame may be provided with crimped sec tions 35 in the regions where the clips 32 and 34 are to be located. In these positions of the parts, the attaching portions and 27 will overlie spaced torsion bars 3 of the end spring units 2 and may be secured to the latter by means of clips 36.

In assembled condition, the overlapping leg portions 18 and lend rigidity to the border wire from front to back of the cushion and the leg portions E, 2t 21, and 26, 27, 28 function as brace wires and also as force transmitting wires to enable force applied to the border wire to be distributed over a greater area so as to avoid subjecting either the border Wire or the endmost spring elements 2 to undue deflection at the point of imposition of a load. The connection of the border wire assembly to the individual spring elements 2 is such that the application of force to the border wire does not tend to distort or cant the spring as would be the case if the border wire were connected to the outer spacer bars 4 of the spring elements 2. This is because the connection of the border wire to the spring elements is substantially in the plane of the supporting deck section and is connected to the spring elements at points which are substantially symmetrical about the longitudinal axis of the springs 2.

Another function of border wires is to counteract the force exerted on the ends of the spring assembly by the seat or back fabric and tending to move the ends towards one another upon the application of arload. Some border wires in use heretofore have bowed the sides of the border wire frame outwardly for this purpose. In the instant construction, however, the double thickness of the sides of the border wire frame resist pull-in of the ends of the wire assembly and, being located in the central region of the sides of the border frame, provide rigidity at the zone where it is most desired.

The assembly of the border wire and the springs of the cushion is a relatively simple matter and can be accomplished extremely rapidly since there are only two frame elements constituting the border wire and since no welding operations are required to join the two frame elements to one another.

The disclosed embodiment is illustrative of a presently preferred form of the invention, but the disclosure is intended to be illustrative rather than definitive thereof. The invention is defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a spring cushion construction having a group of spring elements arranged side by side: a border wire assembly comprising a first generally U-shaped frame ele ment having a web portion of a length and extending in direction to span one dimension of said group of spring elements, said first frame element having a leg portion at each end of said web portion of a length and extending in a direction to span another dimension of said group of spring elements; a second generally U-shaped frame element having a central portion spaced from and generally paralleling said web portion of said first frame element and spanning said group of spring elements, said central portion having a leg portion at each end thereof extending parallel and lying adjacent to at least a part of the leg portions of said first frame element; and means securing said first and second frame elements to one another and to said group of spring elements.

2. The construction set forth in claim 1 wherein the ends of the leg portions of said second frame element are secured to said web portion of said first frame element and the ends of the leg portions of said first frame ele- 4 meat are secured to the central portion of said second frame element.

3. The construction set forth in claim 1 wherein the web portion of said first frame element is secured to each of said group of spring elements at a. corresponding location and wherein the central portion of said second frame element is similarly secured to each of said group of spring elements, and wherein the ends of the leg portions of both of said frame elements are secured in a similar manner both to corresponding spring elements and to said second and first frame elements respectively.

4. In a spring cushion construction having a group of spring elements arranged side by side: a border wire assembly comprising a pair of generally U-shaped frame elements having web sections and leg sections arranged to form a closed loop about said group of spring elements, intermediate portions of said leg sections of one of said frame elements being located adjacent to intermediate leg portions of said other frame element; means securing the adjacent portions of said leg sections to one another, each of said leg sections having end portions projecting inwardly of the loop formed by said frame elements and overlying a portion of a spring element; means securing the overlying portion of each of said end portions to its adjacent spring element; and means securing the web section of each of said frame elements to each of said spring elements.

5. The assembly set forth in claim 4 wherein the inwardly projecting end portions of said leg sections extend to the adjacent web sections of said frame elements, and means anchoring said end portions to the adjacent web sections.

6. A border wire assembly for a spring cushion con struction comprising first and second substantially U- shaped frame elements having web portions and leg portions arranged to form a closed loop, the leg portions of one of said frame elements being located adjacent to the leg portions of the other frame element, the leg portions of each of said frame elements being of such length as to span the distance from its web portion to the web portion of the other frame element; means securing the adjacent leg portions of the respective frame elements to one another; and means securing the ends of said leg portions to the adjacent web portions of said frame elements.

7. The assembly set forth in claim 6 wherein the leg portions of each of said frame elements are secured to one another intermediate their ends and wherein the ends of each of said leg portions of the respective frame elements converge towards one another from the region where said leg portions are secured to one another.

8. A border wire assembly for a spring cushion construction comprising first and second substantially U- shaped frame elements having web sections and leg sections arranged to form a closed loop, portions of the leg sections of one of said frame elements being located adjacent to portions of the leg sections of the other frame element, other portions of said leg sections of each of said frame elements projecting inwardly of the loop formed by said frame elements; and means connecting the adjacent portions of said leg sections to one another to maintain said elements in loop forming relation.

9. A border wire assembly for a spring cushion construction comprising first and second substantially U- shaped frame elements having web sections and leg sections arranged to form a closed, four-sided loop, intermediate portions of the leg sections of one of said frame elements being located adjacent to intermediate portions of the leg sections of the other frame element, each of said leg sections having end portions projecting inwardly of the loop formed by said frame elements and extending generally diagonally across the corners of said loop; and means connecting the adjacent portions of said leg sections to one another.

10. The assembly set forth in claim 9 wherein the end 5 portions of said leg sections terminate adjacent to the web sections, and means connecting said leg portions to the adjacent web sections.

11. A combination border wire and brace wire con struction adapted for use in conjunction with a spring cushion assembly having a number of springs arranged side by side to form a spring unit having front and side edges, said construction comprising a generally U-shaped wire element having a central section adapted to span the front edge of said spring unit and a leg section at each end of said central section, each of said leg sections having first portions thereof bent to extend along the adjacent side edge of said spring unit outwardly of the latter, each of said legsections having intermediate portions thereof 6 bent to extend inwardly of said spring unit for connection to springs of said spring unit, and each of said leg sections having terminal ends converging toward one another. 7

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

